During the first week of July, the City of Lawrence will resume its strategic planning activities with a series of “Community Check-ins” to be held via Zoom. Strategic Plan activities were previously paused in March as COVID-19 restricted the City’s ability to engage the community in thoughtful discussion.
The Community Check-ins will be hour-long virtual meetings facilitated by The Novak Consulting Group, which the City is working with to create the strategic plan. The purpose is to see how recent events, including issues of racial equity as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, may have affected community perceptions and priorities.
Residents are invited to sign up via an online form to participate by video conference. Currently, two meetings are scheduled for the following dates/times:
- 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 8
- 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 9
Due to technology limitations, each of the meetings will be limited to 100 people. Registration will close 48 hours before the meeting time. If more people are interested, additional meetings will be scheduled to accommodate all those who wish to participate. Any additional meeting dates/times will be shared on the City website: lawrenceks.org/strategic-plan.
The City previously conducted a public engagement strategy in February and March in which they engaged more than 3,000 people in a variety of ways, including community meetings, facilitated discussions, tabling events, employee groups and an online survey. The Novak Consulting Group analyzed the collected feedback, and the results are available to review, here (PDF).
An online Lawrence Listens survey will also be available on our website (lawrenceks.org/listens/surveys) for those unable to participate in the Community Check-ins. The survey will be available for one week, Monday, July 6 – Sunday, July 12, and it mimics the questions that will be asked during the Community Check-ins. Paper copies of the survey will also be available to pick-up that week at City Hall via the information window on the first floor.
The final anticipated engagement activity of the strategic plan process will be the City Commission and City staff retreat, which has been rescheduled for July 25.
Information on the 2020 Strategic Plan is available on the City website at lawrenceks.org/strategic-plan. You can stay up-to-date on the strategic plan process by subscribing to the e-news list. Go to lawrenceks.org/subscriptions and check “Strategic Planning Process” to get subscribed. Questions can be sent via email to strategicplan@lawrenceks.org.
Contact: Danielle Buschkoetter, Budget & Strategic Initiatives Administrator, dbuschkoetter@lawrenceks.org | (785) 832-3337